Getting ready

Less than a month to go for our trip but not spending much time this week thinking about it. We’ve already chosen our luggage, weighed it and I’ve packed and unpacked twice trying to decide what stays and what goes. I have a list started that lists “Needs” and “Wants”. When we come to the wire, the “Needs” go into the suitcase and, depending on the room and weight left over, I’ll have to prioritize my “Wants.”

But this week another event has superceded all thoughts of leaving. In four more days, my son is getting married. I love the woman he’s chosen to be his wife – she’s a true sweetheart. That doesn’t mean I don’t mourn the departure of my son, however. He moved out of the house eight months ago, so I’ve had some time to adjust, but there’s a permanence about a marriage ceremony that puts a period on his childhood. And that gives me bittersweet feelings.

Bitter because he’s left us. No, bitter is too strong a word. Sad. Melancholy. Both of those are better words. After being a huge part of our lives, day in, day out for two decades, his presence in the house is gone. I’m not picking up after him, or nagging him to do anything, nor am I getting a daily hug or a quick, “Love you, Mom” as he heads out the door. We don’t share music anymore, he doesn’t fill me in on the latest games I should be playing or how his favorite League of Legends team is doing in the finals.

Sweet because I know we did a good job. Like most parents, we screwed up sometimes but, in the end, he turned out to be a good man. Yes, I used the word man. He hasn’t been a boy for quite some time and I’m proud of the man he’s become. His soon-to-be wife is getting a wonderful, caring, loving human being and I take just a little of the credit for that.

So the trip has taken a back seat this week as life gets turned on its head in a very happy way. I celebrate the addition to the family and am thrilled to the very core of my being that he found a woman who loves him as much as we do.

And, if I’m very, very lucky, I might even be ready by Sunday to give him away.

Play safe,

Diana

Newly released!

Great news! REMEMBERED LOVE is once more available. This short story, formerly at Ellora's Cave, is now re-released as a separate, stand-alone title. Currently available only at Smashwords, it will be at Amazon in a day or so (they take a little longer to go live because they insist on checking covers for "suitability". I already have one title banned there because the cover doesn't fit their sense of propriety).

Val knows all her husband’s moves and their sex life has become mundane despite their love for one another. Then Gary suggests adding a little kink to their sex life and she discovers a whole new side of him—a side that suddenly makes their marriage very, very exciting.

Ooh...spice in a marriage! What a concept. :)


Pick up a copy of this today - and don't forget to leave a review! Those sentences you write are what drives numbers nowadays.

Play safe!
Diana

What are you reading?

Lately I've been on a Regency kick with my reading habits. Currently, I'm enjoying Julia Quinn's Smyth-Smith romances. Honoria and Daniel have both found their mates...who will be next? I'll soon find out in the next book in the series, I'm sure!

My husband asked me why I read these books when I know how they're going to end. I told him that's exactly why I like them. There aren't any worries, no concerns that the hero and heroine won't make it through the conflict and end up together, because that's not the trope of a Regency romance. I read these BECAUSE I know the ending. If I want stress and real-life, I'll watch the news.

And I do. Watch the news, that is. But when I pick up a book to read, I don't want reality. I want to escape into a different world or a different time where everything's always going to work out in the end.

I also told him, there is an art to creating those stories. When the plot is tried and true, the characters have to pick up the reins and drive the story. If they don't, it IS boring and dull and repetitive. Julia Quinn writes fun characters I enjoy getting to know. So far, I've read Just Like Heaven and A Night Like This in this particular series of hers (disclaimer: series that play on characters from one book to the next are among my favorites. Nora Roberts does that a lot as well and I like those books better than her stand-alones. It's one of the reasons I wrote Phillip and Sarah Townshend into Services Rendered, even though the book isn't about them. And Will shows up in all four books of the Journey to Submission series. One of these days maybe he'll get a book of his own!).

Next up is The Secrets of Sir Richard Kenworthy. I expect the hero and the heroine will end up together at the end and I've no doubt Ms. Quinn will deliver that...along with intriguing characters and great conflicts!

So tell me, what kind of a a reading kick are you currently on?

Play safe,
Diana